


Do you feel Lost?

by Leigh553



Category: The Night Shift (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Character Death, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-06-16 18:24:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leigh553/pseuds/Leigh553
Summary: An origins story for TC written during season one. Story is complete and will have 2-3 parts, there is also an already completed sequel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used simply the situations they find themselves in.

Thad Callahan would seem to any casual observer normal teenage boy with no bigger problem than who he was going to take to the homecoming dance. Those observers would be wrong. Fifteen-year-old Thad had a lot of problems and responsibilities that most kids his age couldn’t even imagine, the biggest responsibility being his thirteen-year-old brother TC. Thad’s parents were Irish immigrants that came to the US to escape the violence in Ireland and were under the impression that living in America would make everything better. It didn’t. So, Thad’s father started drinking to cope with how disappointed he was with how his life had turned out. His mother was a kind and timid woman falling deeper and deeper into depression once her husband started to take out his frustrations on her and their children. So, now all Thad and TC had was each other and Thad tried his hardest to keep TC safe and out of trouble, but he wasn’t always successful.

July 28, 1995 started out the same as every other day that summer with Thad waiting for his father to leave for work, so he could attempt to make breakfast. That morning he discovered the cupboards and fridge were completely bare of anything even close to being edible. After not having supper the night before Thad was starving and he imagined TC was as well. He was really trying hard to get TC to stop stealing things but constant lack of food at their house was not helping at all. Thad started to search through the cupboards a second time just in case he somehow missed something. 

“Dude, there’s no food anywhere in the house,” said TC from the doorway almost giving Thad a heart attack, “I checked. There’s no money either, not even in Dad’s secret hiding place.”

“Why would you touch Dad’s secret stash T?” asked Thad incredulously, “if he notices that someone was in there he will beat your ass for sure.”

“Like I care, he does that anyway” answered TC, “I’m going into town. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Thad sighed as he watched TC bolt out the screen door letting it slam closed behind him. He really hoped TC would stay out of trouble while he was in town and refrain from stealing anything. Thad was pretty sure his hopes were in vain though. He decided to go check on his mom and found her laying in bed refusing to even acknowledge his presence, as usual. He was honestly surprized she hadn’t starved to death or died of dehydration since she never seemed to move from her bed or touch anything he brought her. Thad had been sitting there watching his mom for about an hour when he heard a knock at the door, his first thought was that TC had been caught shoplifting again and had been escorted home by the police. When Thad opened the door, there was a police officer standing there but no sign of TC; he really hoped TC hadn’t been sent to juvie. 

“How can I help you today officer” asked Thad as politely as possible.

“Is your mother at home son,” asked Officer Shaw taking in the skinny blond boy standing before him.   
Shaw had been a police officer for almost 15 years and it never got any easier delivering news like this. Over the years he had also gotten good at recognising certain things, like he was 90% sure that the skinny kid in front of him was a victim of abuse and neglect.

“She’s sick in bed, I can’t disturb her” answered Thad hoping the cop would agree to just talk t him instead, “whatever you need to tell her, you can talk to me about.”

“I really do need to speak with your mother whether she’s ill or not. I do apologise for disturbing her, but this isn’t the kind of information I’m permitted to speak to a minor about” responded Officer Shaw gently. He could clearly see that the conversation was making the boy very uncomfortable. He wondered if the mother was even actually home or maybe she was high or drunk or any manner of unsavoury possibility.

“Okay, I’ll try to get her but if she’s not up to it then you’ll have to talk to me” said Thad with a resigned sigh, “I’m 15 you know, I’m not a child.” 

He really hoped TC wasn’t in juvie or worse, injured or dead. His mom was still in the same position she’d been in when he had left to answer the door.

“Mom, wake up, there’s a police officer here to see you” said Thad as he attempted to shake his mom awake. To his surprize she turned over and sat up.

“What? Why would there be a police officer here? Go downstairs and keep him occupied while I get myself presentable” snapped Mrs. Callahan without giving Thad a chance to respond.

Thad did as his mother told him and went back downstairs to join officer Shaw.

“She’s just getting dress, she’ll be down in a minute.”

“Thank you for waking her up” said Shaw in an effort to relieve the awkwardness in the room. It didn’t work, if anything it made it worse. Probably due to the nature of his visit and the fact that he knew he was about to give the kid terrible news and the kid was still unaware.

“Sorry to keep you waiting officer” said Mrs. Callahan as she entered the living-room.

“I’m Officer Shaw ma’am.” He stood and shook the woman’s hand, “I think you might want to sit down.”

Once the woman and her son were both seated Shaw continued, “I’m sorry to have to inform you of this but there was an accident at your husbands work site this morning and your husband was killed.”

“There was an accident and Sean is dead” echoed Mrs. Callahan in shock.

“Dad is dead? Do we need to identify the body or something like they do on TV?” asked Thad. He should be sad but all he could feel was relief, that probably made him a terrible person.

“Yes, we usually have a family member identify the body to be sure the deceased is who we believe them to be” answered Shaw, “in my experience, it also helps family members accept the reality that the person is dead.”

“Should we go with you right now?” asked Mrs. Callahan snapping out of her shock.

“Yes, that would be best” responded Shaw.

“What about TC, we need to tell him first. I’m sure he’ll be back soon so we should wait for him” protested Thad. They couldn’t leave without letting TC know what was happening first.

“It’s fine. We can wait a bit if you want to wait a bit if you want to wait for your other son to get home” offered Shaw.

“Alright Thad, we’ll wait for your brother for 30 minutes but no longer. We can’t keep officer Shaw waiting all day.”

“Thank you, I’m sure he’ll be back any minute” said Thad hopefully.


	2. Chapter 2

Thad got up and stood at the window to watch for his little brother. Just when he was beginning to think they would have leave without TC he saw his brother running up the road towards the house. Thad sighed in relief. TC burst through the door and froze at the sight of officer Shaw.

“Why is there a cop here?” asked TC looking to Thad for an explanation. He was kind of worried the cop was there because he was in trouble although he hadn’t done anything that day.

“Umm, well, dad is dead” Thad announced awkwardly. He could feel his face turning red, he hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that.

“What? For real? Dad is actually dead? Wow, did not see that coming.” TC couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his father, the person that made his life a living hell, was gone forever. He tried not to seem too pleased with the news, normal people are not happy to hear that their father is dead.

“Have some respect” snapped Mrs. Callahan, “I have to go identify the body, you can go or you can stay here, makes no difference to me.” She couldn’t believe her husband was gone, what was she going to do? How was she supposed to raise two teenagers on her own?

“I’m coming, I need to know that it’s really true” responded TC. He had to be certain that the monster was really gone for good. He followed his mom and brother out to officer Shaw’s car and got in the back with Thad. His dad had taken their car to work that morning so they had no choice but to ride with the cop.

The drive to the morgue took about 30 minutes and was completely silent. The awkwardness of the situation was making Thad very uncomfortable and he couldn’t wait to be out of the confines of the car.The morgue was in the basement of a fairly large building downtown that also housed the offices of the crime scene investigators and their crime lab. If he was seeing it under different circumstances he’d be pretty excited to see the crime lab and morgue. TC was looking around in awe as they made their way through the building to the elevators. His little brother really sucked at hiding his emotions and Thad could see their mom frowning at him. Their mom was obviously far more upset about their father’s death than he or his brother were, it made Thad feel kind of bad. On the other hand he really hoped his father’s death would improve the rest of their lives.

The actual morgue was larger than Thad was expecting and smelled awful, he guessed it was the chemicals they used to preserve the bodies and clean the place. The attendant met them and spoke with officer Shaw for a couple of minutes and then led them to a room at the end of a hallway. Inside the room were several metal tables, one of which held a body covered by a sheet. Thad immediately knew that the body was his father; he felt TC grab his hand and hold on hard. Actually being in the room with their dead father was obviously freaking the kid out more than he expected it to. The attendant asked their mom to go with her and pulled back the sheet once they were next to the table that held the body. Their mom immediately burst into tears and confirmed that the man on the table was indeed her husband. The attendant and officer Shaw stepped out of the room to give them a few minutes to process.

TC walked up to the table and looked directly at his father’s face, even though he looked kind of different now that he was dead, it was still definitely his father. He couldn’t help the small smile of relief that came to his face. He wasn’t really sure what would happen now that his father was dead but whatever happened it had to be an improvement to how things had been. TC watched as his mom sobbed over her dead husband, Thad was doing pretty much the same thing as him, he was confirming their father was really dead. He had to admit, if only to himself, that he was slightly concerned about how his mom would be able to provide for them when she had no job and almost never left her bed. Her lack of a job had been something his father had berated her about constantly; hopefully with his father gone she would snap out of her funk and be a responsible adult again.


End file.
